somegamergirl's Adventures at New York Comic Con 2011!

Hey guys! I apologize for writing this a week later than intended, but the rest of my life got the best of me, and I honestly didn't have time to write this until today. The extra time I actually had this week went to putting the videos and picture slideshow for this blog together. Anyways, you don't care about any of this, so without further ado, I present to you my Saturday experience at NYCC 2011 complete with photos and videos! The videos are within the blog, and the photo collage is at the very end, so don't miss it!

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So, the car ride there was pretty hyper and exciting. We waved to random strangers in the cars surrounding us, sang classic songs, and commented on the intriguing architecture of the areas surrounding us, all while yelling at our fantastic GPS system.

WARNING: I never film very steady and I was losing my voice during this day, so I sound...manly? Ugh, I don't like it...but...you'll get over it.

Once we got into the city, we saw adds for lots of nerdy things, which made my friend's little brother continue to scream "YES!!!" to himself, and we followed people from Star Wars on the streets since it was easier than looking at street signs.

Once we reached the Javitts Center, we heard angelic music playing and assumed we were home free since we got our tickets in advance through the mail. We were naive. We're at a convention! Of course there's going to be a line! There's a line in order to get in lines here!

However when we got through the line, we were in! One of the first things we saw when we entered the Dealers' Room (more like gigantic open air market) was the mammoth like sign for Square Enix, complete with fans staring at the screen that was showing on repeat the trailer for XIII-2. Just watch how intense their faces were.

We continued walking, and came across various things. First off, we saw people attempting to dance to some new dance game that uses Black Eyed Peas music. Then the girl from the upcoming Avenger's movie (not Scarlett Johanson) was signing autographs, but WAIT! You needed to get a ticket in order to wait in line and meet her. So we just watched her from behind the fenced area like middle aged Miley Cyrus stalkers and took her picture.

The next place we came upon was one of the most interesting parts of my day. It was a booth of some website called "niconico.com", which we learned was a Japanese Youtube type of website, and they were giving out free T-shirts if you signed up for the site. Did they just say FREE? Hell yeah, I'll make an account! So we're waiting in line to use the computer to input our email and username, and we notice that there's a giant camera filming the convention scene around us, including everybody waiting in line, and it was all being aired on a large television behind it. There was also a scary looking microphone and a plush carpeted area right in front of the camera.

We realized that comments were popping up on the screen. Then the guy standing near the microphone told us that this video was being streamed live on this site, and the comments popping up were from users watching the footage. My friend and I made the mistake of making too much eye contact with the camera, and before we knew it there was a slew of comments popping up saying "red kimono girl and school girl, come over here!". The guy we had just spoken to was the host, and he saw the users sudden interest in us, and pushed us out of line and in front of the microphone and camera.

He proceeded to ask us questions about why we were attending the con this year, what shows we liked, who we were dressed as, and where we were from, all the while we were staring blankly at the screen and smiling nervously. Have you ever been interviewed in front of an audience comprised of thousands of Japanese people and otakus before, with their comments being streamed right in front of your face? ....I didn't think so. It was...uh...pretty overwhelming to say the least.

The viewers really did like us though, but some of the comments were just downright perverted. Some people kept suggesting that we kiss the host, make out with the guy behind us, or kiss each other. The only thing we did was hug, and I'm completely awkward at hugging.

The host translated our answers into Japanese, and then made us sing the websites jingle. When it was all over, he patted us on the backs and said that we did a good job and he hadn't seen the viewers get that excited since the convention began. So I guess what I got out of all of this is that I'm an entertaining person to watch? ...Hm.

Unfortunately, I can't find any footage online of the live streaming, but if I did...I think I would be scared to watch it. xD

So after watching people play Skyward Sword, taking pictures with people dressed as zombies, buying useless crap, and having my own photo taken a few times, we went over to the anime section of the convention.

We entered the anime area, and as soon as we got there my friend's little brother was immediately swarmed by countless fans of the anime Ouran High School Host Club. He was dressed as the beloved character, Honey, and holy crap, they went wild for him. The poor kid was taking pictures left and right, but he drew the line when some random guy asked him for a hug. He without a blink said "NO", and walked away with my friend and I standing next to the guy and his group of friends. One of them yelled "DENIED!" and the man seriously looked as if he was about to cry. We laughed hysterically as they walked away.

Then we entered the Anime Stage area, and watched quite an entertaining show of cosplayers singing songs. Just...watch.

After that, we lurked around, trying to get into panels, but to no avail. The panel for The Avengers was beyond packed, with an entire hall filled to the brim with fans 3 hours in advance, and most of the people to receive autographs from required tickets to wait in line that were WAAYYY over priced. Like Mark Hamill. Yeah, I know that the guy was Luke fricken' Skywalker but really, $100 to wait in line to get your signature? You're not that important. So we gave up on doing important things, and continued to shop, talk with people, take pictures, be asked for photos, and have fun.

The other part during the convention that really stuck with me were the Vampire Knight fans that came up to me and wanted to take a photo WITH me. Now, I know that this sounds cheesy, but it almost felt like they thought of me as the main character from the anime, and for the first time I kind of knew what it felt like to be a celebrity with fans. OMG, I told you it was cheesy! Finding fellow fans dressed as the same character was also a great experience too.

We decided to get in line for one of the most anticipated endings of the night: the Masquerade. However, the line was completely disorganized, and we ending up getting into the IGN Theater 45 minutes later than we should have.

When we finally got in, they decided to "thank" us for our patience by showing us this short animated film from some up and coming director. Now I'm a pretty easy person to please, and I'll watch most movies, but my God, this movie was the most boring waste of time I had seen in a long while. I don't know if it was our impatience or the fact that it was 10 PM and we had been walking around for 12 hours, but I just couldn't watch it. I feel asleep for 5 minutes, rocked back and forth in my chair, and definitely starting getting on the nerves of the guy sitting next to me. Oh well.

And then, it BEGAN!

Here are some of the skits that I filmed. If you're interested, watch the ones that interested you. If not, then skip this part and continuing reading after you see the squiggly lines.

I thought little Link was adorable. >.<

I actually spoke with the girl playing Snape earlier in the day.

Now that was the most epic cosplay I have EVER seen in my life. Seriously.

I envy their energy...

I have no fricken' idea who this guy was, but I do know that he sure woke me up after that awful movie!

I'll never see Final Fantasy the same way again.

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When we left, the place was literally dead. It was...weird.

You know when it's late at night, you've been up too long and you're tired and you get all hyper all of a sudden? Well, when we did we started telling my friend's brother "scary" stories that we made up on a whim. If you've been skipping all of the videos, just watch this one, because I actually think it's genuinely funny.

And finally for those of you that have been waiting, here's my collection of photos from the day! I tried to get photos of good cosplay, and I found some half naked women for you guys' viewing pleasure. Thanks for making me have to take photos next to sweaty fat guys! I apologize for how terrible the photos came out, but it's hard to make people look ok in convention pictures.

That's about it! I hope you guys enjoyed! Please leave your comments below, and I'll be sure to get to them!